Last night GalleyCat braved the muggy July weather for the launch party for Granta 107 at the cozy Manhattan bookstore, Three Lives & Co..

We spotted a couple review copies of Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice" floating around the party, and even struck up a conversation with Salman Rushdie about the reclusive author. It reminded us of the NY Observer's feature about 2009's "status galleys"--measuring how much credibility an advance reading copy of a hot book can lend to the regular reader.

Inspired, this GalleyCat editor interviewed some of the writers and editors at the party about their favorite status galley--including video answers from John Wray (author of Lowboy), Matthew Aaron Goodman (author of "Hold Love Strong"), and John Freeman, Granta's acting editor.